THE CLAIM by Ryanair deputy chief executive Michael Cawley that the airline did not agree to increased charges at Cork Airport appears to be contradicted by Cork Airport Authority documents.
Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary this week blamed the increases for the decision to abandon routes from Cork to East Midlands and Glasgow Prestwick.
He said this would result in a loss of 200,000 passengers and about €20 million in revenue for Cork Airport and the local region.
But an application last year by Ryanair to avail of Cork's five-year European route support scheme for the two routes states that a sliding scale of incentives applies to the scheme.
This ranges from a 100 per cent discount on airport charges in year one, reduced by 80 per cent in year two and on down to 20 per cent for the fifth year. The application was sent to the authority on September 13th by Colin Casey, a commercial analyst with Ryanair.
Ryanair deputy chief executive Michael Cawley said yesterday that the airline had not signed up to a five-year deal and had only ever agreed to a zero-cost deal.
Mr Cawley made his comments on RTÉ Radio One's Morning Irelandshow. When asked by presenter Áine Lawlor if Ryanair had signed up to a five-year deal, Mr Cawley replied: "No we didn't. We signed up for zero cost."
According to Mr Cawley, Ryanair warned the authority a number of times "most recently two months ago" that any increase in charges would result in it pulling the routes.
The document seen by The Irish Times, however, clearly states that a sliding scale of supports would apply over the five years under the Cork Airport European Route Support Scheme 2007.
"After the five-year period, all airport charges will be charged at the standard rates applicable at the time of operation, as published by Cork Airport," it adds.
Ryanair's application summarises its plan to operate daily services on both routes with aircraft carrying up to 189 passengers.
When contacted by The Irish Timesabout the application form, Mr Cawley said: "This is an interesting breach of confidence. I'm not going to indulge in this."
Mr Cawley reiterated that Ryanair had told the authority from day one that "if the price went up, we'd pull out".
"This is a scheme that bears no relationship to market realities," he added. "It never worked in Dublin and it certainly never worked in Cork where costs need to be lower than Dublin."
A spokesperson for the authority confirmed last night that Ryanair had signed up fully last September to its European route incentive scheme.
The spokesperson added that statements to the contrary by senior executives of Ryanair yesterday were "false and untrue".
The spokesperson also refuted suggestions by Ryanair that the management of Cork Airport had ever expressed a willingness to extend 100 per cent discounts on airport charges beyond the first year of the support scheme.
"It would make no commercial sense whatsoever for Cork Airport to offer its services and facilities free of charge indefinitely for any routes and it would be in breach of EU law to offer special incentive arrangements to one airline alone," the spokesperson added.
